"IMPACT OF POLYPHARMACY IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL"

Ageing is a natural process and as age progresses, the number of incurable disease increases. This increase leads to the increase in the medications; resulting in polypharmacy. The objectives of this study was to assess the impact of polypharmacy in geriatric patients and also to assess the severity of drug interactions as a result of polypharmacy. The prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee of Bapuji Pharmacy College, Davangere. Data of geriatric patients collected from the Medicine and Emergency wards were included in the study. The collected cases were analyzed using the commercially available Micromedex. The identified DDIs were categorized on the basis of their severity. In our study the prevalence of polypharmacy was more in males compared to females. It was found that the age group of 60-69 had the higher incidence of polypharmacy compared to the other age groups. Among the classes of drugs prescribed, the CVS drugs were prescribed more followed by GI drugs. Not only this, most of the patients were prescribed drugs between 5-10. On analyzing the prescriptions for drug interactions, 320 drug interactions were found. Based on the severity of drug interactions, moderate interactions were found to be the highest. The actual and potential DDIs increase as per number of drugs in prescription. The management of clinically relevant DDIs can be improved by clinical pharmacist interventions. Advice on withdrawal or substituting the precipitant drug would be beneficial.